STAR WARS, INDY , HOWARD THE DUCK DEUCE; AND MORE

[Abraham Smashington]

I mean, I'm still on a high from the movie and it DID have it's problems but not feeling like SW is not one that I can get behind.

[Abraham Smashington]

WOW.

Enjoyed the hell out of this - definitely worth the wait! Still processing everything, but, yeah, this puppy's easily among the best in the series. Absolutely Empire level, fo' sho.

  Spoiler: Herein there lie spoilers... 

Onto the stuff I dug/hated...

1) Finn. I'm 100% onboard with this guy, and would follow him to the gates of Hell if need be. After we run away from the gates first, of course. John Boyega nailed this, and I'm hoping all the lightsaber stuff means Finn's on his way to eventually becoming a Jedi at some point. His relationships with Rey (ah, let this turn into a romance, please!) and Poe's easily the Samwise to Rey's Frodo - that best buddy who's got your back, even when he's scared shitless.

He has a great character arc - former Stormtrooper on the road to redemption. Can't beat that with a stick.

2) Rey. Definitely Luke's kid, no question. Her ease with clicking with the Force when she needs it, her beatdown of Kylo Ren (both the lightsaber duel and her stare down when she was being interrogated), her abandonment issues (LOTS of abandonment issues in this film) = next-gen Jedi. She's the lead for this trilogy, and like Troy said, Daisy Ridley's career is gonna skyrocket after this.

3) Poe. He's not Han and Leia's kid, but he damn well should have been. A nice guy who's a hell of a pilot, but he's not a dick about it. A lovable wise guy. Kind of reminded me of Duncan Idaho from the Dune books. His instant bonding with Finn, his friendship with BB-8 (yeah, he's a droid, but damn it, I got the feels when those two split up and reunited).

4) Luke's reveal - Mark Hamill said nothing, but pulled off one hell of a great acting moment with just his face. Haven't seen anything like that since DeNiro in Sleepers - that look on Luke's face and the sorrow that washed over it when he looked at Rey; was it because he recognized his daughter? Because he felt Han die, or found out about it from Rey's mind? Great fucking moment there.

I'm 100% positive Luke's gonna become a Force ghost before this new trilogy is done, but with Hamill back on screen, the ride to getting there is gonna be awesome.

5) Capt. Phasma - definitely under-used, and like Grave said, she's in the Boba Fett/Darth Maul club at the moment. Gwendoline Christie deserves better, much much better.

Hope she got out of the Trash Compactor Finn (allegedly) threw her into before Starkiller Base went blooey. She damn well better have a stronger arc in the next film, or fists will be shaken at the screen.

6) Yep, definitely a retread of A New Hope, right down to the trench run, but I don't mind so much. Like Rob and Ceej said in the latest episode "bigger and bigger", but still fucking great. I do wish, however, the First Order had a better plan than Big Space Station Blowing Planets Up. The Empire tried that twice and got clobbered each time.

7) Han and Chewie. Princess Leia. Luke. R2 and C-3P0. Welcome back, folks. Been WAY too long, and my inner 10 year old was doing cartwheels when each of 'em showed up. Needed some Lando, though, just because. I knew Han was going to snuff it, but his death was still a gut punch. Great scene between Ford and Driver, just great.

8) Kylo Ren/Ben Solo - Oh, the many, many "fuck yous" I want to shout at everyone who thought this guy was Dark Side Luke. I liked Ren, his darkside bad guy outfit is slick, and he does have the Skywalker whining down pat. Really, really, really hope this guy just doesn't have bad parenting issues as a motivation, but is a shitheel to begin with. The fact that I enjoyed watching Rey kick his ass (Finn, too!), means Driver did his job and did it damn well.

Agreed with Rob, Driver is a fugly mofo, but he sold the shit outta his character. I can easily see him doing a Vader-esque turn on Snoke before this trilogy wraps up, though.

9) Snoke. Big ass hologram for a big ass Sith? God, I hope so. Like Rob and Ceej hope, watching Jedi fight a giant-ass Sith would be pretty sweet. Not sure if this is Darth Plagueis, but who cares? Snoke is this evil, big ass corrupted mofo, and if he turns out to be the true power behind Palpatine, even during the Empire years, then well done to all involved with his character. Consider his action figure BOUGHT, son!

10) Hux. Oh, you fascist pseudo-Nazi, Godwin's Law in human form, you! Love the speech, love the rally, love that it was a prelude to wiping out an entire fucking star system. Domhnall Gleeson knocked this outta the park, and I'm glad he got the fuck out before Starkiller Base went 'splodey-'splode. Hope he continues to bring the evil in the next episode.

More to follow! Still processing!

Listening to the latest Episode, nodding my head to rob and Ceej's points. Well done, gentlemen!

I think Nux was the only "meh" part for me. He did what the character needed but as a bad guy he wasn't up to Tarkin level for me.

  Spoiler: spoilers 

GOD I WANT GIANT SITH SNOAK SO BAD

[Matt]

Hux, Phasma, and (I think) Finn had a lot of stuff on the cutting room floor. I felt satisfied with what I got for Rey, Kylo Ren, and Poe, but the others felt underserved. Phasma, in particular, is completely wasted.

And hey, to each their own on the look/feel thing. This just had a bit too much whoosh pew pew swoop pew pew for me and not enough character stuff. Add in the Abrams camera movements and yeah...not a SW film for me.

[Abraham Smashington]

I still prefer Jedi's final space battle than what we got in the end for this one but JJ out directs the shit out of Lucas IMO.

[Matt]

I still prefer Jedi's final space battle than what we got in the end for this one but JJ out directs the shit out of Lucas IMO.

Excellent example. Look at how well choreographed and graceful the final space battle in JEDI is. It's easy to follow and has individual vignettes that provide mini-stories that you can follow over the course of the entire battle. It's clear, it's effective, and it's not cluttered.

The space battles in TFA don't have that level of grace at all. They're chaotic and full of nothing but quick cuts to explosions and debris flying around. Those individual vignettes are gone, replaced by random explosions.

To each their own. Again, I LIKED the film, I just didn't LOVE it.

[BillyG]

Hux, Phasma, and (I think) Finn had a lot of stuff on the cutting room floor. I felt satisfied with what I got for Rey, Kylo Ren, and Poe, but the others felt underserved. Phasma, in particular, is completely wasted.

And hey, to each their own on the look/feel thing. This just had a bit too much whoosh pew pew swoop pew pew for me and not enough character stuff. Add in the Abrams camera movements and yeah...not a SW film for me.

Not trying to get into argument/discounting your opinion...but man, Star Wars was always whoosh pew pew swoop and it lucked into some character stuff. The characters that stood out were thanks to the actors (Solo, Lando) or awesome design (Boba) and the only REAL character stuff was Leia/Han.

[Abraham Smashington]

My only gripe is lack of legit space battles. But I thought that each group had their moment in the sun in Awakens. Shit man we got a ton of GRUNBERG which was hilarious. Luckiest dude ever.

[Matt]

Who's Grunberg? Am I missing something?

[gravedigger]

He's part of Abrams' repertory company. He's showed up in pretty much every Abrams thing. He was the rando X-wing pilot who got to talk a lot.

[Abraham Smashington]

He's part of Abrams' repertory company. He's showed up in pretty much every Abrams thing. He was the rando X-wing pilot who got to talk a lot.

yeah, he played Shaun in Felicity, he was the pilot in LOST in the pilot episode, he was in the MI movies as well. IT's like how JJ tries to reference Beastie Boys in his flicks. I only wish we heard them say that alien pilot's name was Ello Asty before they blew him up. But at least I have the toy.

[Abraham Smashington]

I forgot to mention that I fucking LOVED the

  Spoiler: SPOILERS 

intro to Han/Chewie in regards to the monsters they were transporting and the guys from The Raid showing up

That was probably the most "JJ Trek" thing yet I LOVED IT. I just wish they did more than just show up and then get eaten.

[gravedigger]

Is that really Grunberg's character's name?

[Matt]

Yeah, the RAID guys were wasted in their cameo. They needed to actually fight, not just get eaten by mini-Cthulhus.

[Abraham Smashington]

Is that really Grunberg's character's name?

No. This is Ello Asty

[Abraham Smashington]

Yeah, the RAID guys were wasted in their cameo. They needed to actually fight, not just get eaten by mini-Cthulhus.

yeah, but at least I knew that they were in the movie and weren't a big part. I would have been bummed had I waited for an amazing kung-fu fight to happen.